The Perfect Words
by Lady Bagheera
Summary: after 20 years Sarah hears a song that decides her. Oneshot songfic.


_**I don't usually write songfics, but this one grabbed on and would not let me go until I wrote it. I hope it was worth it.**_

_**Disclaimer: I own neither the characters from Labyrinth, nor the song.**_

Sarah trembled as she lit the last candle. The flickering play of light and dark had always calmed her. She needed calm now. She almost wished she was trying to seduce him. Seduction would be easy. This – this was going to be hard.

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It had been twenty years. He, of course, hadn't aged. Sarah, now pushing 35, looked better than she ever had. Jareth watched her often, always feeling her turmoil, always waiting for her to call. His pride, wounded when she'd refused him, would not allow him to go to her unless she called. She'd taken to looking for him each evening and bidding him goodnight from her window before she went to bed.

Soft music intruded on his thoughts:

"This time, This place  
Misused, Mistakes  
Too long, Too late  
Who was I to make you wait  
Just one chance  
Just one breath  
Just in case there's just one left  
'Cause you know,  
you know, you know

That I love you  
I have loved you all along  
And I miss you

Been far away for far too long  
I keep dreaming you'll be with me  
and you'll never go  
Stop breathing if  
I don't see you anymore"

He could hear her sing along; could hear the pain in her voice, the sincerity. A fierce mixture of pain, fear and pleasure slammed into him, and his lounging pose against the tree became rigid. After all this time could she really be –

"Jareth?" Astonished eyes met hers. It was the first time in twenty years that she'd spoken his name. "I'm calling."

"Why?" He only just managed to keep his voice cool, distant. Almost regretting it when she flinched slightly.

"I can't tell you, but if you're willing to look, I'll show you." Opening herself to him, she remembered:

_Karen telling her she was crazy, and convincing her father that she was too dangerous to allow around Toby._

_A seemingly endless procession of blond boyfriends who'd quickly lost patience with her chastity. One who'd tried to force her, only to be faced with an irate king with a feral smile and blood-lust in his eyes._

_The suspicion that slowly grew to a certainty that she never should have refused him._

_All the nights she'd lain awake; wanting desperately to call out to the man watching over her, but terrified to do it._

Through it all, the words of the song continued to beat in his brain.

"One my knees, I'll ask  
Last chance for one last dance  
'Cause with you, I'd withstand  
All of hell to hold your hand  
I'd give it all  
I'd give for us  
Give anything but I won't give up  
'Cause you know,  
you know, you know

That I love you  
I have loved you all along  
And I miss you  
Been far away for far too long  
I keep dreaming you'll be with me  
and you'll never go  
Stop breathing if  
I don't see you anymore"

So far away  
Been far away for far too long  
So far away  
Been far away for far too long  
But you know, you know, you know

I wanted  
I wanted you to stay  
'Cause I needed  
I need to hear you say:"

Jareth knew the end of this song, and sung it softly, barely loud enough for her to hear.

"That I love you  
I have loved you all along  
And I forgive you  
For being away for far too long  
So keep breathing  
'Cause I'm not leaving  
Hold on to me and, never let me go"

"You have to say it, Sarah. I will not let you turn my life upside down once more for less."

"I love you, Jareth."

He waited for a heartbeat while the words sank in, then appeared in her room amidst a flurry of sparkles. "You tortured me, Sarah. For twenty years I've seen your dreams; heard you call my name and known my place in them. But awake? You refused, and I was bound by my pride and sense of honor to respect your waking choices."

She looked deep into his eyes, content in this moment. "I'm so sorry, Jareth. I –"

Smiling, he stopped her with a heartbreakingly sweet kiss. When he was finished he whispered against her lips, "You are forgiven, sweet Sarah. Just do not do it again."

She chuckled and buried her hands in his so-soft hair, pulling him to her for another kiss. "There's one more thing."

Lifting an eyebrow, he just looked at her.

"This virginity shit has GOT to go!"

He purred, "I agree." As he lifted her and walked over to the bed. "It is past time to ease that particular burden." He sighed softly as she ran her fingertips over his scalp. "I do hope the reality compares with your dreams. You've had such interesting ones."

She wiggled on her tiny bed, trying to get comfortable. Something occurred to her. "Jareth?"

He looked down at her; soft and sweet, and the main player in every dream he'd had for the last twenty years. "Yes?"

"Will you take me home so we can do this right?"

Confused, he spoke before he really thought about it. "Home? You are in your home, Sarah."

She merely shook her head and smiled at him. "No, Jareth. I want to go to _our_ home."

His eyebrows shot up in surprise, and a wicked smile graced his perfect lips. "I believe that could be arranged. But tell me, Sarah…" he bent to place hot, dry kisses along her neck and collar bone. "what will you do for it?"

Sarah had been placing her own kisses over his face, neck and shoulders. When he asked that, she paused, and then answered softly between kisses. "Love you. Fear you. Do as you say."

"I've been your slave for a long time, Sarah. What do you wish?"

"You, Jareth. Only you, for as long as I live."

He chuckled again, sending shivers down her spine. "Are you sure, Sarah? Because as long as you live will be longer than you expect if you come home with me."

"Forever wouldn't be long enough." She tugged at his hair, pulling his lips up to hers. "Now take me home…please." She laughed, low and sexy. "Feeling you pressed into me like this, and not having enough room to do anything about it is killing me!"

He closed her eyes gently by brushing his lips over them. They were weightless for a few seconds before he once again felt the softness of his bed under his back. Grinning at her startled breath, he began moving his hands down her body; giving her something else to think about. "I am your slave in this as in all else, Sarah." He murmured. "Tell me what you want, and you will have it."

He fulfilled every half-spoken desire, every stammered request and bold demand. When she was incoherent and begging, he joined them with a slow, steady thrust; and in his soul something he never knew was broken healed.

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_**A/N – So I won't say be gentle, but please remember that your first time is a two-person experience. So please review!**_


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